Reintegration of Female Soldiers in Various Countries in Africa

The focus of this project was female soldiers and their reintegration into society following a war. Female soldiers often challenge deeply anchored preconceptions of gender identity. This has implications for the reintegration of such women into civil society. This project constituted a compara-tive study of the phenomenon of female soldiers and their reintegration, with special attention to African countries. It built on fieldwork material from Eritrea, as well as various types of material from other African countries where experi-ences with female soldiers have been documented. The project involved several fieldwork and fact-collection trips. It resulted in a report to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Peace as Disappointment, PRIO Report 3/2002 (Oslo: PRIO), as well as several popular and academic articles.